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UK businesses are wasting nearly 50% of their electricity

UK businesses are wasting nearly 50% of their commercial electricity powering equipment when their staff have left for the day. That is to say businesses are spending up to £1 in every £2 of their electricity bills outside working hours. These major business energy waste issues are highlighted below.

This data comes from the latest figures of a research conducted by British Gas. The energy supplier collected data from over 6,000 smart meters which showed that 46 per cent of business electricity use happens outside of the traditional business hours of 8am-6pm.

It is not the first time a research of this nature reveals UK businesses are wasting electricity during non-working hours. Recently the Carbon Trust published a report that said “UK SME’s missing out on business energy efficiency savings due to lack of information”.

Back in August last year a npower report indicated that over half of UK’s small to medium sized businesses (SMEs) have no energy efficiency measures in place. While E.ON’ research revealed that UK businesses are wasting about £30.8 million a day by leaving their PC equipment on standby which, depressingly, establishes that nothing has changed in five years despite the huge amount of advice and support available.

Business Energy Waste

But it is not only with idle computers and lack of information that businesses are wasting electricity.

Common examples of unnecessary business electricity usage include: lighting car parks at the weekend, leaving vending machines switched on overnight and during the weekends, setting air-cons and heating timers incorrectly, leaving display lights on overnight and many other minor details that can cost business thousands of pounds each year on their energy bills.

The first step to cut down on business energy waste and expenditure is to understand how, where and when electricity is being wasted. Smart meters are a great way to monitor and understand electricity usage in a business.

Professional help is the second logical step for businesses looking to identify areas where substantial savings can be made. Consider the services of independent energy consultants or energy consultancy firm.

“A ‘fresh pair of eyes’, with relevant experience of achieving tangible results in other organisations, can often uncover areas for significant improvement that may not have been previously identified.”

Small and Medium sized businesses are the backbone of the UK economy, together they account for 45 per cent of all the business energy usage in the UK. So it is extremely important that SME’s have access to as much information as possible to enable them to improve their energy efficiency, reduce their costs and improve their competitiveness.

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If you would like more information on our range of business energy services or would simply like to find out how we could benefit your business, simply call our energy team today on 0870 710 7560 or request a call back at time to suit.